Rockets center Yao Ming got himself hitched yesterday — or today, or whatever the hell the time change makes the actual date — in front of 70 onlookers and about 100 media people hanging out in the lobby waiting for interviews. It must be so odd to have people wanting to interview you after your wedding.

Anyway, as another example of how Ming is a different celebrity than most, the big "controversy" about his wedding is whether they ate shark fin. A spokesperson defended Yao.

[And with regards to the sharks fin rumours] On behalf of the wedded couple, I'd like to thank you all for the stories that have appeared on the internet and in print, but I'd like to point out that there were some untruths in those stories, for instance, that there was a dish by the name of "Braised bamboo fungus and fish maw in sharks fin" on the menu. As we all know, Yao Ming is the frontman of the "Protecting sharks begins with me" campaign and he has promised at the WildAid event that he would not eat sharks fin at any time or under any circumstance. Hence, there was no sharks fin at the wedding tonight.

Ah, China: They actually thank people for untruthful stories on the Internet. So polite, as along as you don't, you know, live in Tibet, or Sudan, or ... well, lots of places, actually.